


Is This A Date?

by bmcbapej



Series: Bemily Week (2018) [7]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bemily Week, Day 8, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 16:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14023917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmcbapej/pseuds/bmcbapej
Summary: Beca doesn’t mean it that way. Emily doesn’t realise it at the time but she kind of wishes Beca did.





	Is This A Date?

**Author's Note:**

> Also a little late but here it is!
> 
> Day 8: Free Choice

Out of all the words that could have come out of Beca’s mouth, “Is this a date?” was not the selection Emily was expecting.

Sure, they’re alone together but that was only because Chloe was busy with a Russian Literature essay and Stacie had to stay behind for some extra lab observations. Beca had paid for both of their ice creams but that was only because Emily had left her purse in her other bag.

The music is a little romantic, Emily supposes, but there’s nothing really date-like about what they’re doing. Except she had told Beca to close her eyes to see if she could guess the flavour Emily had ordered.

“Dude, I’m serious, if this is a date in my mouth right now, I’m going to keel over and die later so…”

 _Oh._ Well it was a good thing that was cleared up early, a misunderstanding could have been _very_ awkward.

* * *

Emily is a go with the flow sort of person. Roll with the punches. Take life as it comes. Which is why she’s frustrated by her inability to stop thinking back to her not-date with Beca.

It’s really killing her song-writing vibe right now. She’s filled several pages with distracted doodles and utter nonsense. She may or may not have also tried to rhyme the word ‘Beca’ with ‘milk bar’ which turned out as well as anyone could have expected. Reading it again makes her crave some ice cream though. Actually, the one she had the other day with Beca was- Gosh darnit.

* * *

Emily believes that physical communication is just as important as verbal communication. It’s something that generally works out well considering most of the other Bellas are also touchy-feely. The big exception is Beca who shies away from human contact at almost every opportunity. She’s become largely desensitized to the Bellas over the years, but Emily is usually mindful of her boundaries.

Beca’s aversion to touch makes her rare hugs a little more meaningful. She might not pull Emily in as close as the other girls will, but the embrace somehow feels warmer. It’s all Emily can think about when the older girl ends up falling asleep on her lap during a movie night with the girls. The falling asleep part wasn’t new (Emily’s a little impressed she managed to make it half way through the movie) but usually she ended up against the corner of the couch or leaning on Chloe’s shoulder if she wasn’t sitting on the side. Not that Emily was stalking her or anything, it’s just the shorter girl’s quiet snores would draw her attention and oh no what if Emily moved and Beca woke up.

Beca doesn’t wake up until the credits roll and Stacie and Flo get into a heated debate about which male lead should have gotten the girl. Emily doesn’t remember enough of the movie to weigh in on the argument. She can tell you what shampoo Beca uses though.

//

“You made me a mixtape?” Granted it’s less of a tape and more of a USB, but it was full of original mixes. By Beca Mitchell. For Emily Junk.

“Don’t make this weird. You said you really liked that Wombats song the other day, so I went looking for other stuff you might like. Inspiration kind of struck and it was definitely more fun than my Philosophy paper.” Beca’s nose scrunches a little in thought, “Don’t tell Chloe though, she thinks I’ve been working on the set.”

Emily doesn’t tell Chloe, or any of the other Bellas for that matter. The new playlist on her phone becomes one of her most frequently played.

* * *

Her song-writing is still going nowhere. She ends up replacing ‘milk bar’ with ‘all star’ and before she knows it she’s watching all the Shrek movies again. She makes sure Amy is not home while she’s doing it, Amy has this weird vendetta against Lord Farquaad.

* * *

Emily is a little concerned when she arrives back at the house to find Cynthia-Rose, Amy and Lilly in the front-yard with a big hunk of metal. She doesn’t recognize a majority of the items but she’s sure she sees parts of a shopping trolley and what looked like the spare tires from Jessica and Stacie’s cars.

Knowing there was no way that whatever shenanigans brewing were going to end well, she pretends to not see them as she walks passed. Unfortunately, a certain Australian notices her not noticing them.

“Legacy! Do us a favour, will ya?” The mischievous grin on Amy’s face didn’t bode well.

“Uhh, what do you guys need?”

“Ask Beca if you can borrow her skateboard.” Okay, Emily had no idea that Beca even skated. But, now that she thinks about it, she vaguely remembers seeing a skateboard in amongst some of her things.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” There was an 85% chance it wouldn’t come back in one piece after they were done with it.

“She’d respond way better to you. Plus, we’re busy out here.” Amy gestured towards Cynthia-Rose who was hot-gluing a compact mirror onto a coat hanger and Lilly who was somehow sawing a metal pipe with a spatula. Amy wasn’t actually doing anything herself but that was to be expected.

“What about Chloe?”

“Chloe doesn’t have a skateboard. God Emily, keep up.”

Cynthia-Rose butts into the conversation without turning around, “Lilly _borrowed_ Red’s hair dryer so we’re probably not going to be her favourite people anytime soon.”

Shaking her head, Emily agrees to ask. She finds Beca in her bed, headphones on and laptop in her, well, lap. Knowing that knocking wouldn’t do any good, she enters the room and promptly trips over a bag on the floor.

“DUDE! Are you alright?”

“It’s okay, I’m just admiring the view down here.” Amy should really vacuum under her bed more.

“If that’s a short joke you can help yourself up.” Beca doesn’t mean it and offers a hand anyway. “So, what brings a girl like you to a place like this?” She offers Emily a gummy bear after she shuffles over to make room on the bed.

“Amy wants to use your skateboard.”

“And why doesn’t Amy ask me herself?”

“That’s what I said!” Emily blew a hair out of her face in frustration, “She thinks you’re more likely to say yes if I ask.”

Beca’s mouth tugs a little at the corners, “I think she meant for you to pretend that you wanted it for yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I’m not lending her my board. I claim no responsibility for that death trap they’re building outside.”

“You’ve seen it, too? What are they even working on?”

“I think I saw flyers for a go-kart race in the kitchen.” Emily thinks it was less worrying before she knew what that thing was. “I’m going to let Chloe field this one when she gets back. Lilly’s still angry at me for when I vetoed her knife-throwing choreography suggestions. Want to see what I’m working on?”

“Is it the new setlist.” jokes Emily.

“Ha-ha, I finished that last week actually - just waiting on Stacie and Chloe to finalize the choreography. This is something else I did as a side project.”

“Oooh, give it here then!”

As Beca places the headphones over her ears, Emily almost doesn’t hear her say, “If you actually want to borrow my board though, just ask.”

* * *

She tries replacing ‘all-star’ with ‘streetcar’ but it just reminds her of her high school English teacher. He was weird.

* * *

Beca tries to teach Emily how to skate. It’s a rough beginning but by the end she’s confident enough to make it from one end of the street to the other and back. She’d much rather just watch Beca do it. Something about the way her tongue would poke out before a particularly complex manoeuvre and the way her facial expression just seemed _free_ when she was in the air brought a smile to Emily’s lips.

They go for ice cream when they’re done, just the two of them. Emily offers to pay this time.

//

Judging by the way Beca was acting around the Das Sound Machine leader, she was either not straight or terrible at trash talking. It’s probably a combination of both. Emily wants to dislike them but they’re quite frankly very good performers. She settles for trying to stare intimidatingly at them. Emily doesn’t think it works.

* * *

She crosses out ‘streetcar’ and tries a few lines with ‘kommissar’. The lyrics and notes get a bit dark and angry, which isn’t the feeling she usually goes for. She puts aside her notebook in irritation and puts in her earbuds. When an all-too familiar playlist starts, she can’t help but sing along. “ _If this is a rom-com, kill the director.”_

* * *

Emily feels like the biggest idiot in the world when she loses the riff-off for them. Even Chloe’s angry at her, and she’s seen Chloe try to play with the feral raccoons that occasionally raided their garbage. The other Bellas try to cheer her up, even Amy offers her a half-eaten Oreo the next day, but it doesn’t do much to lift her spirits.

Beca’s been a bit distracted lately as well and she’s been in a _mood_ that all the other girls have been trying to avoid. Emily doesn’t know what’s going on and neither does Chloe who expresses her concern one night when Beca hadn’t come home yet. Guesses ranging from a drug habit to a new boyfriend are bandied about and Emily excuses herself to get some sleep.

Sleep doesn’t come to her at all and she’s wide awake when familiar footsteps echo from the hallway. Getting up, she sees Beca attempting to sneak upstairs, shoes in hand. It doesn’t work very well considering the old rickety floors.

“Hey, where have you been?” Emily knows she hasn’t been here all that long compared to the other girls, but she thinks that her and Beca are close enough for her to know why she’s been so distant lately.

Beca stills before turning around. Whatever resolve Emily had to be stern fades when she takes in her appearance. Beca’s always been short but she’s never looked quite this small. Maybe it was the dim lighting that illuminated her eyebags at the worst angles or the way she was awkwardly holding herself together, but something inside Emily breaks a little.

She draws Beca into a hug that she never wants to let go.

//

If Emily thought Chloe was scary, the redheaded captain had nothing on the whirlwind that was Aubrey Posen. Emily aches in places she didn’t even know existed which was something considering she played volleyball competitively in high school. If this ‘retreat’ was supposed to forge stronger bonds or whatever, it was doing exactly the opposite. Cynthia-Rose had almost drowned twice and Ashley had nearly sprained her ankle inside the mud pit. Beca looked like she was a hairline trigger away from exploding.

And explode she does. Emily doesn’t want to think about what would have happened with the Bellas if Beca hadn’t been caught in that bear trap. What kind of crazy operation involving capture nets didn’t have ladders on stand-by?!

In the end they all do come closer, so maybe Aubrey knew what she was doing (Emily would still only give her three-and-a-half stars _max_ in a Yelp! review though). Although, the look Beca gives her when she offers to collaborate makes the whole gruelling experience worth it (okay maybe a four-star review then).

//

Collaborating was everything she thought it would be – and then some! They were in a real studio, a studio that _Snoop Dogg_ himself had stood in! It was kind of weird to hear her own voice in such crystal-clear quality but the encouraging look Beca was giving her probably meant that it sounded better than she thought it did.

Beca offers her suggestions she never would have thought to try, and the way they bounced ideas off each-other was giving Emily a whole new perspective on some of her material. When they’re going through her notebook, Beca almost stumbles upon the mess of half-written musings in the middle but Emily is quick to stop her. Sitting back a little in surprise, Beca apologizes while rubbing the back of her neck.  

After a few late-night sessions, they finish _Flashlight_ and show it to Sammy who loved it. In the excitement that follows Beca latches onto Emily in a classic awkward Beca-Hug™. It’s not overly tight but it leaves Emily breathless.

On the way home, they stop by a 24-hour diner where Beca asks Emily to order for her while she goes to the bathroom. It’s not until after they’re served and they’re sitting across from each other that she thinks she understands the other song she had been trying to write all year.

“Oh wow, I don’t know if it’s because I’m starving but this looks absolutely delicious. What's the brown stuff?”

Beca takes a huge bite out of her mystery burrito when Emily blurts out, “It’s a date.” She spits out everything in her mouth onto the plate.

“DUDE, WHAT? I’M ALLERGIC!”

Emily’s face reddens as she reaches forward to stop Beca from looking for her EpiPen. “Not the food! I mean, this. This. Can this be a date? You and me. Because I really like you.”

Beca’s eyes widen to a degree Emily hasn’t ever seen before. It was passed deer-in-the-headlights and all the way to owl-having-a-heart-attack. Emily begins to second guess herself until Beca relaxes a little and offers her a shy smile.

“Yeah, it can be. I really like you, too.”

The diner was horribly lit, and the lack of music was kind of weird, but Emily will earnestly say that she had a wonderful time. When she gets back to her room later and pulls out her trusty notebook, she rhymes ‘fate’ with ‘date’.

**Author's Note:**

> And this brings us to the end of Bemily week! I'm sad to see it go, but I had a fantastic time reading (and writing) all the content. Shoutout to everyone who made it possible: the organizers, the theme submitters/voters, the other contributors, and of course you guys - the readers. Whether you comment, kudos, or just lurk, thanks for giving my work a shot :)


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